Skip to Content

CoVi spies on $15M funding

CoVi spies on $15M funding

AUSTIN, Texas - Looking to increase its product line and sales presence overseas, CoVi Technologies secured $15 million in Series B financing from all of its existing investors. Proceeds of the round will be used for further product development and to establish a sales presence in Asia, according to Stuart English, vice president marketing at the company. “Video surveillance is a huge market and it’s growing 20 percent to 25 percent a year,” said Steve Foster, managing director at TPG Ventures and board member at CoVi. Over the course of the next few months, the company plans to build a sales force located at its manufacturing facility in China. The team will target U.S.-based corporations with overseas operations that include facilities such as casinos, hotels and entertainment venues. The areas of concentration will be Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. In the coming weeks, CoVi will release a range of digitized products in anticipation of ISC West. However, English declined to comment on the specifics of the technology as of press time. Additionally, as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, the company expects to release a high-performance pan-tilt-zoom camera. Participants in the second round of financing were Polycom, Oak Investment Partners, TPG Ventures and Walden International. Founded in 2002, CoVi emerged from stealth mode with $16 million in Series A funds in September 2003. “Obviously, the investors are confident in the business plan,” said English on the return of all previous investors to the round. “And they respect the feedback of the early adopters and the prospects of the future.” CoVi has doubled its headcount to 64 from last January to January 2005. A number of video surveillance companies have received new financing in recent months. ObjectVideo collected $11 million in a Series C round and Smartvue closed the books on $1.5 million in a Series A round. Foster said the recent influx of financing in this sector reveals that “we’re moving to a world of intelligent monitoring.”

Comments

To comment on this post, please log in to your account or set up an account now.